The present invention relates to an apparatus for producing prepared food by electrical conduction. It contains a lid which covers an upper opening of the apparatus and a processing container which has a pair of electrodes disposed on two sides of the inner wall of the container. Foodstuffs can be safely and accurately warmed to an appropriate temperature in a very short time by electrical conduction employing the electrodes of the processing container. Such foods include Chinese, Japanese and other kinds of noodles, cooked rice, beans and various kinds of soup including miso soup, etc.
It is well known that instant foods such as Chinese (ramen) and Japanese (udon) noodles and miso soup can be prepared simply by pouring boiling water on the instant food within a disposable container. These foods are prepared by pre-dehydrated processing and designed so that they can be reconstituted and eaten immediately after boiling water is poured on them. Such a process is shown for example in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 56-23253 prior to the present invention.
However, with conventional instant foods, if the water poured into a container is not hot enough, sometimes the instant foods cannot be sufficiently heated, and they cannot be eaten even if they are preprocessed. They may need to be reheated in pots and pans or have fresh boiling water poured on them, and so forth. Dietary standards have improved in recent years and there is a trend towards natural foods. Since tastes and textures of preprocessed instant foods are inferior to natural and non-instant foods, consumers tend to shy away from them. Since foods such as Chinese noodles or processed rice are dried after they have expanded, they are not suited for consumer's tastes. This is one of various problems that has come up.